AEG Publishes Photos of Flats Described as Non Existent by Housing Minister

The Commoner’s Friendship Union, a local NGO, has published photos of the single-room Hiyaa flats that had been claimed to not exist by Mohamed Aslam, the Housing Minister.

The previous administration had constructed four residential towers through state-owned companies. The first four floors of the towers, which comprised of single room apartments, had been dedicated to public housing. Despite the fact that much of the construction had been completed, Minister Aslam had claimed that the flats did not exist.

Minister Aslam had first claimed that no single-room Hiyaa public housing units had been built in the previous year. He later claimed that there were only 36 such apartments which the government could distribute. The truth is that the apartments had been sold by the contracting state-owned companies.

Although the government has claimed that the contracting companies were free to do whatever they decided with the flats, it is worth noting that the government owns majority shares in the companies. The government would have full control over company policy.

As a result of the sale of the flats, the government has disqualified three entire categories of applicants for the Hiyaa public housing programme.

The Hiyaa Public Housing Scheme had been initiated by President Yameen Abdul Gayyoom and had overseen the construction of 7,000 housing units. Applicants for the units had been distributed into several categories.